Monthly Archives: April 2015

Police are reassuring West Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, residents after buttons mysteriously appeared on their doors.

Officers are investigating after receiving a number of reports about the sudden appearance of buttons on doors on Tuesday.

Newcastle Inspector Neil Brotherton said:

“We’ve had a number of reports from people who have found buttons temporarily stuck to their doors in the West Jesmond area this morning.

“It’s very unusual and we are carrying out inquiries into this to find out who has done this, and why.

“We have had no reported crimes linked to the locations of the buttons and at this stage we think that it could be some kind of prank or marketing activity. We are making inquiries in the local area to establish this so we can let people know why this is being done.”

Inspector Brotherton also addressed concerns that the buttons were linked to planned crime, particularly burglary.

He said:

“As a precaution, we have extra officers carrying out patrols in the areas where these buttons have turned up until we know why this has happened.

“We don’t believe there is any increased risk of burglaries or crimes in the affected areas however we’d like to remind people, especially students, about how important crime prevention is.

“Make sure doors and windows are locked and secure and that all valuables are kept somewhere safe and not left in plain view near windows or in the car.”

Anyone with information on the buttons is asked to contact police on 101.

Here’s an idea… forget the spin-doctors and the mainstream media and instead explore the political landscape via the music it’s inspiring.

You probably won’t have heard much, if anything, of what follows. It’s not played on the TV or radio, the political parties themselves don’t know it exists and almost certainly wouldn’t care for it if they did – with one exception. There is one party who understand the concept very well – can you guess which one ?

This is folk music (small ‘f’), music performed by folk, singing about their concerns. For the most part it’s DIY recordings and videos, probably made on no budget at all in most cases, and released into the wild via Youtube and other sites.

It’s not-for-profit, its makes no money for corporations, it almost certainly wont be on your radio. But its inventive, satirical, funny, vitriolic and often thought-provoking. What else do…